Happy Friday! What do you have planned for this weekend?
I'm taking a minute to sit with this comforting thought: we made it. We made it through a frigid, never ending winter. We made it to spring. Insert huge sigh right here. Ahhhhh. There were times when I really started to think it wasn't going to happen. I waited so long and tried my best to be patient; it only feels fair now to stop and enjoy this wonderful, wonderful time of year. Do you ever wait, and wait, and wait for something only to breeze right through it when it finally comes? I found myself doing this with the warmer side of spring. I was so excited that we finally reached temperatures above 50 that I mentally jumped right past spring to dreaming of summer days spent swimming and gardening and hiking and...well you get the idea. I'm getting down on myself for getting excited about another great time of year (especially up north!), BUT I don't want to forget that I waited a long time for right now. And right now is very, very good. So this is how you'll find me this weekend: doing my best to be present and soak up this beautiful spring season.
Happy Friday! What do you have planned for this weekend?
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Usually, I like to be more humble and not announce my birthday here, but I'm excited and happy so I'm just going with it. My 28th year was fantastic in so many ways. I really loved being 28 - I felt happy and comfortable with myself, and I just enjoyed being me. I love that each year I feel a little happier in my own skin and a little bit more confident in who I am. I'm trying something a little different today to commemorate the past year. I've reflected on my year and have put together a list of 28 things I experienced this year. Thanks so much for reading and thanks for all your support and love and friendship this year! When I was 28 I... stood on stone pavement in Bath with my love... travelled to Europe and around the country... fulfilled my dream of going to Paris... savored tasty macarons, fresh fruit, quiches, wine, fish and chips, tea and biscuits, and lots of chocolate... added a great beagle named Diego to our family (just one, not four)... spent many evenings cuddling on the couch watching Star Trek with my hubby and our pups... took dozens and dozens of walks with my beagles... joined a roller derby rec league... surprised myself by how brave and strong I could be... built my confidence, my skating skills, and my leg muscles... ate so many desserts especially macarons (I'm mentioning them twice in this post because I loved them that much this year!)... baked lots of cupcakes, bread, and cookies... made nastutium jelly, ice cream, fresh juice, and popsicles... learned to can tomatoes, to skate backwards, and to knit with round needles... grew lots of tasty vegetables in my community garden plot... worked at a new job, advocating for people with disabilities... led our community garden and helped lots of people grow their own food... rested on the Oregon Coast... took so many pictures and fell in love with photography... enjoyed visits from my sister in law, my family, and friends... explored Milwaukee and found new reasons to love this city... moved to our very own apartment... decorated our new space and made it home... painted lots and lots of canvases with inspiring lyrics... dreamt about my future with Paul and starting a family... loved my family, my friends, my husband, my pups, my apartment, my life, my body, my job, my city, and so many other things... resolved to find good in every day...
hoped for many great adventures and more of what I love in my next year of life! Ah...so thankful for my life - so thankful for this day - and so thankful for all of you! This weekend I decided to have a "treat yo self" day. Paul was working all weekend, I had just finished a crummy week, and I needed a nice day all to myself. But even though I knew I needed some time to just indulge myself, I still felt like I needed permission to blow off housework and whatever else I "should" be doing. Do you ever have a hard time doing the things you know you need to do to be happy? I'm getting better about it, especially if the things I'm indulging in are experiences and don't cost much money. So I got over the shoulds and just had a happy day. I think I've mentioned a few (dozen) times how happy flowers make me. So naturally my treat yo self day included a trip to the Mitchell Domes, the large enclosed gardens in Milwaukee. A genius planner decided to have a farmer's market there every Saturday in winter, so I was able to walk around the Domes and take pictures to my heart's content - all for free! I arrived right at the end of the market so all the crowds were gone, but the admission price was still waved. Sha-wing!!! The tropical dome had flowers in bloom, running water, and real live birds. You have no idea how happy it made me to walk around without my coat on and feel almost-real-sunshine on my face. I felt more drawn to the desert dome than I usually do. I think it's because our extreme cold weather has me looking for some extreme heat. Plus those cactus and succulants...lovely. My treat yo self day also included a vanilla rooibos latte from Starbucks, retail therapy at Target, seed shopping, Jimmy John's and checking a few errands off my list. I know errands don't really seem like a treat, but checking big things off my to do list always makes me feel better and lighter. I ended my day relaxing in our living room watching TV and movies with Paul while painting my little heart out. What a fantastic, necessary day. What do your treat yo self days include?
Good morning everyone! Wow do I feel better! Looks like the books did the trick yesterday and cheered me right up. Reading the books, watching a Miyazaki movie, making a pie, getting an amazing seed catalog in the mail, buying new flowers for our kitchen, and a twenty degree warm up. The little things really add up. One of my favorite holidays to celebrate in the winter is Pi(e) Day. March 14th - 3/14 - 3.14159....get it? Yes, it is awesomely nerdy. I made Tofu Peanut Butter Pie again this year. It's become my go to pie since it takes less than ten minutes to make. To make: add your block of tofu, cup of smooth peanut butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla to your food processor. Mix until smooth and creamy. Melt some chocolate and spread it on the bottom of your pie shell (graham cracker preferably, but mine cracked too much to use for the pie I was bringing to work). Spread your peanut butter filling into the now chocolate cover pie crust. Smooth out. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Devour. It's that simple! (And no, it tastes nothing like tofu.) Oh, and what's that you say? You want to see pictures of tulips? Ok! Who I am to deny the people what they want? Happy Friday!
Most days I can find joy in my life very easily. There's so much I have to be thankful for, and I have so much in my life that I enjoy. But some days...well some days just suck. And today is one of those days. The return of cold weather is affecting me and some recent health problems and harmone swings are not helping.
Now don't get me wrong. My life is still great. But even great lives can have a few annoying days mixed in. And on days like this, few things give me greater comfort than curling up with a good book. There's times when a familiar title will console me like nothing else can. Last night I came home after a looooong day and fell asleep reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The night before my wedding (not a bad night by any means, but definitely an emotional, excited one) I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Sometimes a book like that, one I've read over and over and practically have memorized, is the only thing that will calm me down. Jo says something along these lines in the Little Women movie, that reading her favorite books is like coming home again. I quite agree. Hope you're all holding up well in the end of winter season. What brings you comfort on hard days? I haven't been writing as many spirituality related posts lately, but today I'm writing about a yearly tradition I started to help me remember the season of Lent. Lent is the forty day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter during which Christians prepare themselves through prayer, penance, sacrifice for the celebration of Easter.
Last Lent, I started a tradition of writing forty handwritten notes/letters/cards every day for the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Growing up, my parents said it meant more to do something extra for other people rather than give something up for Lent. Their thought was that God really didn't care if I didn't eat chocolate for forty days, and it wasn't doing anything to help anyone else. I hope they were right, because a God that supports abstinence from chocolate doesn't sound like a God that I'd like to spend time in Heaven with. Though I understand the need for sacrifice and abstinence in some situations - and can see a lot of beauty in fasting traditions in various religions - self-inflicted suffering just doesn't say spritual growth for me. Regular life can already have enough challenges without feeling like you need to suffer to be closer to God. Especially during this winter. (With this being said, I can see how cutting something negative/draining/harmful out of your life could still be a good thing, I just won't be taking that approach to Lent this year.) So instead, this Lent I'll continue my tradition of taking time everyday to remember someone I love. I see God in my relationships with others, so I will work on strengthening these. 40 letters in 40 days, 40 chances to show someone I care about them. Changing my approach to Lent helps me shift my understanding of this season to one of love and rememberance rather than a time of pain, suffering, and sadness. If you recognize Lent, what do you do for the forty days? At the beginning of the year, I shared some photos from a trip my mom and I took to a knitting store in St. Louis. I picked out some gorgeous yarn at the store, and I finally have photos from a finished knitting project to share! This is a cowl - the first project I've ever completed on round needles! Who's got two thumbs and is super proud of herself? This girl! (Though my skills still pale in comparison to my mom's knitting skills. She does amazing stuff!) I used a pattern my mom found on Ravelrie (are you on that site? apparently it's like pinterest for knitters). I plan on making one more cowl before I go onto a new type of project. And since this winter is so fierce and cold and never ending, I'll still have plenty of time to wear it. Don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing.... Have you been making any fun projects this winter?
Sometimes I can act a little bratty and forget how many wonderful things I have in my life. I think most of us have been there: seeing our lives with a negative lens instead of a gratitude one. I see the big hole Diego chewed in my favorite coat -- instead of Paul's reaction to Diego: saying Diego sees himself as "Diego unchained" (inspired by Django Unchained). There's plenty of other things in my life that I easily overlook because other things get in the way. Like the bright colors of our dishes and that no matter what combination they're in, they always look great. Like going to basketball games with Paul and finding free parking three blocks from the arena. Like talking Thanksgiving menus with my mom (we're in charge of pie!). Like the little measuring cups from my sister that make baking feel a little whimsical. Like how easily my social calendar fills up now that we've been in Milwaukee a few years. Like how lucky I am to go to a great job everyday. Some things may seem silly or insignificant, but they're the things that make my life unique and mine.
I feel more and more that practicing gratitude and culativating an attitude of joy can help reveal all the magic and beauty in everyday life. It goes a long way to making an average life feel extraordinary. The dozen mini macaroons from the local bakery Rocket Baby, because they were delicious, reminded me of Paris, and were purchased by my parents for our house warming party. The cups of coffee drinks from Smith Bros, because they were purchased from my Grandpa's favorite fish cafe in Port Washington, WI. My mom, Paul, and I had a delicious perch lunch there and remembered my Papa while walking along the lake. I know he would have loved being there with us. The baby tree in Washington Park with the unexpected pink flowers. The emptied Wheat Thins box wrapped in yellow paper that contained a care package from my JV roomie - complete with a thoughtful card and pumpkin treat making supplies. Kara has the most creative (and environmentally friendly) shipping techniques. The fake sunflowers in Cedarburg that looked so pretty photographed. Mom, Paul and I stopped by this small town on our adventure last weekend, and my mom and I reminisced about past visits and thought about how much my grandma would have loved being there.
Sometimes the simple joys can be the best - and the easiest to overlook. What simple joys are you thankful for today? |